THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR - The Pretty Things - Reg Tilsley - "The Dark" (1969)

It's Friday night and it's time to rock!!! Long overdue for the credit it deserves as being one of the first ever 'slasher' movies, and almost impossible to find anywhere, "The Haunted House Of Horror" is a killer movie on a number of levels. The location is Mod Carnaby Street London 1969, and most of the rockin' music (too bad a lot of the time it's way in the background) is by one of the most underrated and coolest longhair bands of the 60's, The Pretty Things!! Just like the theme, when the Pretty Things weren't rocking the joint, the background music you'll hear was provided by composer Reg Tilsley, who also wrote the music for a couple of Benny Hill episodes among his other many accomplishments!! 

 

1960's ballad singer turned actor Mark Wynter belts out what sounds like a classic drunken pub tune written by Peter Marcus, entitled "Responsibility"!! 

 

This movie is so odd, you've got Frankie Avalon in the starring role as Chris. At this point Frankie's beach party movies were a good 4 or 5 years behind him, and his career consisted of mostly TV shows. It's shocking right from the beginning watching him smoke and drink and talk about his drug arrests, and all that's long before the blood starts flowing, but somehow this movie is just not recognized for it's very early effort in the 'slasher' movie genre, even though it's about young people, has multiple gruesome killings, and has an unsuspected killer with at least a couple of personalities!! This movie is much more related to "Halloween" and "Friday The 13th" than "Psycho" is, and last but not least, it's in color and there's real honest to goodness rock and roll!!! So, what's up with all that? How come this movie doesn't get the praise heaped on it that it deserves, and instead, for all rights and purposes, the master copy probably doesn't even exist anymore for all we know!!! Wha'Happen??? I don't get it!!! All we know is after you hear this music, you're not only going to want to find a copy of this film, but you're also going to be wanting to hear some more of The Pretty Things, one of the best bands of the 60's, period!! Try not stomping your foot along with this party music!! 

 

Let's not forget to give Cinematographer Jack Atcheler a big hand for his part in the awesome look of this film!! "Look, it's a hole!" 

 

Still to this day, one of our favorite things to do is get drunk and have a seance in a haunted house! 

 

Gina Warwick as Sylvia needs to answer some questions!! "Yes, Please come in!!" 

 

Jill Haworth as Sheila comes into this very chic club to talk to Chris and the Inspector as some band wails "A Very Cool Tune" in the background! It looks like the name on the drum is Jazz Mine or something like that! Oh, yeah, nice outfits, and how about the fact that their friend was just violently murdered but Chris is still horny and he smiles a lot!! 

 

This really nice shot is for all you Frankie Avalon fans!!!! 

 

Here we have Chris and Richard portrayed by Julian Barnes face off!! It's up to you to decide who the real psycho is!! It's said that David Bowie was originally chosen for the role of Richard, but that A.I.P. felt that David and Frankie Avalon would clash on screen!! Aw!!! Too bad!!!! Like this flick isn't cool enough already!!!!! "The Haunted House Of Horror" is definitely worth searching out. The only place I could find a copy of it on the whole Internet was on www.ioffer.com sold by the seller named 'sirrastus.' Just go there and do a search, he has pretty dang nice copies! I don't even like 'slasher' films, but this classic horror fest has got it all, conceptually, musically and visually! Dig In Fiends!!

THE SHE-CREATURE - AIP 1956 - (Ronald Stein music)

That's right! Tabonga here again. Tonight we feature my Big Sister, THE SHE-CREATURE and that master of music, Mr. Ronald Stein! 

 

Okay, so here is theme plus odds and ends to keep you entertained ... THE SHE-CREATURE! 

 

Must be nice being gaggle of snooty rich jerk-o-holics! 

 

Oops, daughter have eye on Lance Fuller, better hope Joi don't find out! Dad say Lance was A-Hole on set!! Act like he was big shot! 

 

Tabonga not like ferris wheels!!! Be too top heavy! 

 

Chester warn Paul to quit snooping around, OR!..

 SICK'EM, BIG SIS!!

 Poor Paul get it in yet another flick! 

 

The fuzz is more than useless! 

 

Marla is hot, hot, hot! 

 

One last thing... Big Sis has really Big Boobs!

FROZEN ALIVE (Der Fall X701) - Eric Spears - "Look Here J.B." (1964)

This West German production had so much cool music in it, that this will be the fourth and last installment of information from this film! If you want to know more about composer Eric Spears, please just search our archives for a whole bevy of information and even more cool music from "Frozen Alive."

 These doctor people are just scary!!! 

 

Besides the super fantastic score, this movie is worth watching just to see this big porthole door!!

 "To the Queen Of The Jungle!" Well, Hello there 'Elephant Boy'!!! 

 

The music in this film is off the charts!! Not the most exciting movie in the world, but well worth seeing for the soundtrack alone!!

THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES - ARC 1955 - John Bickford (music supervisor)

Tabonga is back and tonight we doing another flick featuring cool junk by my dad, Paul Blaisdell. Also, our man Forry is string puller of rocket!! Ding Dang, it Double Doobie Tuesday! 

 

This poster look fantastic, right?, the best, awesome!! When backers see flick for first time, well, they slightly disappointed.... Nicholson and Arkoff crazy dudes, man!! 

 

Oh, boy, here we go! Okay, dude's name is 'Him' and sometime they call him 'He!' Drive me freakin' nutty!! 

 

Now, some good stuff! Attack by chickens being thrown! 

 

Oh, best part... Birds totally crap all over family car! Yeah, boy, big threat from outer space!! 

 This scene is whack! But, at least beast tells 'He' to clock dude driving car! Look like 'Him' really hits dude... HARD!!.. My favorite part! 

 

Hmmmm... Look like beast have only one big ol' bloodshot eyeball!! 

 

With no budget, hard to make scale (or, reality) work sometimes! 

 

Paul Birch getting tired because wife is heavy and they do too many takes! Look at all the feetprints in sand!! 

 

Wait, writer say two people who in love stronger than beast with one million eyes?, and then can topple him over too?!! What gives?! Tabonga not buying that crap!! Mr. Writer, see you in hell one day and we straighten it all out! 

 

3... 2... 1... Blastoff with BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES

THE ANGRY RED PLANET - Paul Dunlap - "Serenity Of A Martian Landscape" (1960)

"The Angry Red Planet" was one of the hardest films to choose stills from, because if you've got a good copy, almost every frame is terrific, except for the one's with Gerald Mohr's hairy chest in it, so what I'm going to do is show you some random shots. The music here is very esoteric and odd. It's kind of like jazzy Hawaiian music from outer space! You know what I'm talking about! The magnificent genius of Paul Dunlap is once again responsible for setting the mood!! Be prepared for something like nothing you have ever heard before in your life!! 

 

Having Jack Kruschen reading a science fiction pulp was a stroke of genius! If it had only been a comic book, it would have been even cooler!! 

 

Pretty fancy GPS tracking device, because you know, it's always good to know where you're going in space! 

 

Hot red port! 

 

Cool down Port!! 

 

Naura Hayden, or as she was known in this film Nora Hayden was quite lovely when she let her hair down!! 

 

The way past cool theme from "The Angry Red Planet" was the first monster movie music we showcased on this blog, go back to July 2007 and see how things have changed in the mere 10 months since we started!!

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA - Mischa Bakaleinikoff - "Deep Island Swing" (1955)

Tonight we get another chance to tout the fabulous talents of composer Mischa Bakaleinikoff in this classic film, "It Came From Beneath The Sea"! Mischa could write orchestrated classics to stand the test of time or swing with the best of them, and you know it's the swing we appreciate the most around here!!  

 

It cracks me up the way Commander Pete just flops his arms over and hangs on the periscope handles! 

 

Kenneth Tobey and Chuck Griffiths! Funny! One guy goes on to be in almost every TV show of the 60's, and the other guy never acts in the movies or TV again! Crazy!! 

 

The guys in the sub are getting island music pumped in, but the captain knows they are going to start wanting Mai-Tais any minute, so they change the music to some big band beat, and what do you know, now they all want Martinis!! 

 

I don't think this is the kind of sushi they were expecting for dinner! It's big, and it's still alive!!! Must have been beyond their comprehension, and we can all thank the king of stop-action animation, Ray Harryhausen, for that!

THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE - Irving Gertz - "I'll Kill You Alligator Man!" (1959)

Well, while we're hanging out in the swamp, we might as well continue in the same vein, albeit, the music herein this time is a lot more esoteric than in "The Dead One!" "The Alligator People" is a fairly lame motion picture, but it is also very creepy! Composer Irving Gertz's contributions to 50's and 60's monster movies is almost unsurpassed when you consider some of the titles he's composed for. Besides "The Alligator People" and "The Deadly Mantis", there's "The Monolith Monsters", "The Thing That Couldn't Die", "The Leech Woman", and "The Incredible Shrinking Man!" The crazy thing is, those are just some of the titles, there's also a slew of western, war, and detective flicks in Irving's portfolio!!! 

 

This is a very nice shot of Bverly Garland when she hears the haunting melody on the piano, and starts descending the stairs!!! 

 

Who'd a guessed? It's her husband, the scaly, but still handsome Richard Crane, but she still just can't quite figure it out! 

 

Oh, No, Lon's drinkin' again!! He's got girlie pictures hanging on the wall of his shack, and when he's lonely, the evil Lennie side of him comes out! 

 

The acting by Beverly Garland and Lon Chaney Jr. is solid. 

 

I still wince every time I watch the scene where he punches her, especially knowing Lon had a reputation for being a pretty physical guy!! Bam!!! 

 

"I'll Kill You Alligator Man!" Too bad they didn't combine the best parts of this movie and the best of "Manfish" and come up with one solid movie, instead of two that just barely make it!